From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsurrendersur‧ren‧der1 /səˈrendə $ -ər/ ●●○ verb 1 [intransitive]PMLOSE A GAME, COMPETITION, OR WAR to say officially that you want to stop fighting, because you realize that you cannot win Germany surrendered on May 7th, 1945. The terrorists were given ten minutes to surrender.2 [intransitive, transitive] to go to the police or the authorities, and say that you want to stop trying to escape from themsurrender (yourself) to somebody He immediately surrendered himself to the authorities.3 [transitive]GIVE to give up something or someone, especially because you are forced to They agreed to surrender their weapons. She was reluctant to surrender her independence. Marchers who had cameras were forced to surrender their film.4 → surrender to something5 [transitive] formalPGO to give something such as a ticket or a passport to an officialsurrender something to somebody Steir voluntarily surrendered his license to the State.THESAURUSsurrender to say officially that you want to stop fighting, especially in a war, because you realize that you cannot win – used about people and countriesTwo days later, the rebels surrendered.Japan surrendered in August 1945.give in to accept that you cannot win a game, argument, fight etc and stop trying to win it The players refused to give in and eventually won the game 4-3 in extra time.The negotiations went on for days and neither side was prepared to give in.admit/accept defeat to accept that you have not won somethingIn July 1905, Russia admitted defeat in its war with Japan.She wanted to run for the Presidency and refused to accept defeat.concede formal to say that you are not going to win a game, argument, election etc, so that it officially endsHe was forced to concede the match.Davis conceded defeat in the election. → See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
surrender• Many of the most-feared militants were shot, and more than 700 of them surrendered.• Finally, on April 16th, the enemy surrendered.• They promised to abide by the peace agreement and surrender all their weapons to the occupying forces.• All three gunmen had surrendered by the end of the day.• Ventura has agreed to surrender custody of all six of her children.• In 1637, when Stanhope was persuaded to surrender his patent, Witherings took control of the whole postal system.• Six armed proctors surround me and demand I surrender my blank examination-book.• The President has indicated that he intends to surrender power on February 7th.• But the starkness of the imagery also surrenders symbolic overtones.• But the people of Glastonbury aren't going to surrender their king without a fight, as Clare Lafferty reports.• 19 rebels hiding in the Czech embassy surrendered to the authorities.• Whipped by bad fortune, surrendering to the inexorable gravity of downward-sliding consequences, Edna enforced home order without compromise.• They told Weary that he and Billy had better find somebody to surrender to.surrender something to somebody• The court ordered Bond to surrender his passport to the authorities.surrendersurrender2 ●○○ noun [singular, uncountable] 1 PMLOSE A GAME, COMPETITION, OR WARwhen you say officially that you want to stop fighting because you realize that you cannot win the humiliation of unconditional surrender (=accepting total defeat)surrender to somebody/something the Nazis’ surrender to the Allied forces2 when you give away something or someone, usually because you are forced tosurrender of a surrender of power the surrender of all illegal weapons3 LET/ALLOWwhen you allow yourself to be controlled or influenced by something total surrender to drug addictionExamples from the Corpus
surrender• Colonel Casado was anxious to negotiate a surrender.• A surrender value may not be available if premiums have been paid for less than two years.• It held passion and fire, it was a kiss of domination that asked for surrender yet promised surrender in return.• The Milanese were starving, and forced into surrender.• Then he let down bundles of lighted straw to kill them or choke them into surrender.• Philosophy, by contrast, does not elaborate a mode of experience but rather requires its surrender.• I do not accept that the proposal represents a major surrender of sovereignty.• Beauty on the verge of surrender, and thus all the more beautiful.• But this will entail major political concessions by the government, including the surrender of the state monopoly over electronic media.• General Haig would accept nothing less than unconditional surrender.unconditional surrender• August 1945, to an unconditional surrender.• The allies demanded unconditional surrender.• Instead, they issued the Potsdam Declaration, calling again for unconditional surrender on pain of great destruction.• In this case, however, unconditional surrender was now required.• Tonight the staff accepted the council's unconditional surrender with a bottle of champagne.• Hopes of a compromise peace stood no chance in the face of Franco's determination to pursue the Republic's unconditional surrender.From Longman Business Dictionarysurrendersur‧ren‧der1 /səˈrendə-ər/ verb1[transitive]INSURANCE if you surrender an insurance policy, you stop it before it MATUREs (=becomes due for payment) and receive only a part of what it would have been worth if you had kept itMany policyholders had held theirannuities for years because of heavy penalties forsurrendering them.The firm paid out $1.33 billion in the first quarter to customerssurrendering insurance policies. → compare redeem2[intransitive, transitive] if someone surrenders their power, influence, high position etc, they allow someone else to have itEight months after taking over the running of the business, shesurrendered thatauthority to a man who had only just joined.He plans tosurrender his majorityownership of the company.3[transitive] journalismFINANCE if shares etc surrender their value, price etc, the value, price etc fallsAftersurrendering 39% of itsvalue in the early 1990s, the Nikkei average has moved steadily upwards.4[transitive]LAW to give something to an official authority when it is asked forUnder the Bankruptcy Code, debtors must surrender most of theirassets.The seven men have been granted bail on condition that their passports be surrendered.→ See Verb tablesurrendersurrender2 noun [countable, uncountable]INSURANCE the act of stopping an insurance policy before it MATUREs (=becomes due for payment)Last year’s losses follow a flood ofpolicy surrenders.Any profit arising on surrender or maturity will be taken into account.Origin surrender1 (1400-1500) Old French surrendre, from sur- ( → SURCHARGE) + rendre “to give back, yield” 